Brooke's Books Blog

Dad Wisdom

I LOVE this quote! Another Father's Day design. I'll have it and the Daddy Owl up on my web site by Friday.

Thinking About Dad...

Oh, I miss my dad. I was one of those lucky girls who had "the best dad in the world". Father's Day is coming up and I've been moved to design something fun for all the "best dads" out there. This was a HOOT to draw and chart, by the way. LOL! Yes, I said it. I've been wanting to design some owls so this is the first one of the flock. I know...There are too many owls out there but I've loved them for a long time. Even before they were trendy. I'll release this design in a few days on my web site. Just wanted to share. I'll give more details when it's released. 

JCS Ho Ho Santa Sneak Peek

Sneak peek time. This is "Ho Ho Santa", the ornament I designed for "Just Cross Stitch" magazine's 2013 Christmas ornament edition due out later this year. Can I just say (for the 3 millionth time) that I've become addicted to DMC's Memory Thread. Boy, is it fun to work with

DIMENSIONALITY, I say! Is that a word?

#3's JR. PROM

Couldn't help myself...Had to post these photos of Daniel Lee, our #3 son, and his beautiful friend, Ana, taken the evening of their Junior Prom. Yes, we home school but even home schoolers have proms these days. Are they not ADORABLE? Ana made Daniel's boutonniere with a War Hammer Space Marine figurine, some feathers and pieces of burlap. It couldn't have been more perfect for him.


You can probably tell by the pictures but Miss Ana is beautiful inside and out. She is a wonderful young woman.

We stopped by Whirlpool so Dad could ooh and ahh over the kids before they took off. Yes, the silver haired fuzzy one on the end there is my darling man, John. Didn't know I was married to Santa, did you?
Daniel Lee - age 16. My sweet boy. He's been a delight to me since the moment he was born. I've been so blessed with all four of my boys.

SPRING HOUSE BBI CHALLENGE FREEBIE

It's time for another freebie AND a Brooke's Books Interactive Yahoo! Challenge. Do you remember the Summer and Winter House Challenges from the last couple of years?

Obviously Autumn House is still missing but I'll have that ready for download this fall. To ge all the "House For All Seasons" freebies you have to join Brooke's Books Interactive Yahoo! Group run by my friend, Meagan here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bbinteractive/

Once your membership is approved you will have access to the group's files. Spring House along with Summer & Winter House charts are located in the Freebies / Challenges folder. You'll also need a free copy of Adobe Reader to download the charts.

You don't have to participate in the Challenge to download the chart but we'd love it if you did. Here's how it works. There's no sign up, by the way. Stitch Spring House anyway you'd like. Add things, subtract things, use different colors and specialty threads, use beads, bobbles, buttons...Be creative and stitch it your way. Then upload a photo of your masterpiece in the folder specially designated by Meagan for this Challenge in the group's photo section by June 10, 2013. Meagan will then run a poll so you can vote for your favorite entry. The winner will win six Brooke's Books Publishing chart packs of their choosing. So go to it! And Happy Spring Stitching!

Another Friday Freebie; "...but I like it too."

Does anyone remember where "...but I like it too." comes from? I'm showing my age again. If I add the words, "Manly, yes...but I like it too." ? That right. It's the tag line from all those horrible Irish Spring commercials I grew up with in the 70's and 80's. I guess I could've used, "...magically delicious." instead. I apologize to all my Irish friends for these shenanigans but I can't help it. I'm an idjit. Having been married to a 100% Irish man for twenty-eight years, you'd think the last Irish accent I'd hear in my head is that fake Lucky Charms thing that advertizing agents have forced on us through countless commercials. And speaking of my Irish/Viking husband...My best guy and friend since I was ninteen...This shamrock's for you, Babe. I don't say it enough but I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I must be Irish too. Never could I have found a more wonderful, noble, beautiful, self-sacrificing, hard working, smart, funny, and loving man than John Matthew Nolan. Love you, Honey...

You can find this Shamrock on my Freebies page here: http://www.brookesbookspublishing.com/CrossStitchFreebies.html  Scroll waaaay down the page, past The Stitcher's Alphabet letter blocks and click on the shamrock image to download the chart. This design is 87 x 87 stitches so it's large enough to make into a pretty pillow or some kind of home decor item. Also, I'd recommend using floss the color of your choice. I charted it with DMC 910 but if I were going to stitch this for myself, I'd probably use a variagated green or silk or something lovely like that.

Also. wanted to let you all know that our friend Annie Bebop's beautiful "Happy Couple" quilt has made it to auction at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and I'm hoping you'll go see it. Annie is truly a gifted needle artist and has devoted her time and talent to creating one of a kind quilts to fight the disease that took her mom from her. Thank you, Annie. Your love and devotion shine through your lovely work.

One more quick thing today. I've been having SO much fun designing a Witchie Sister for "Just Cross Stitch's" 2013 Halloween book that I'm dyin' to share some sneak peek photos with you. Her Name is "Batty Belinda" and she's quite the Roaring 20's vamp...Very Louise Brooks. She's very much a work in progress so don't judge her yet. I've got a lot more to add to her (Like beaded fringe for her skirt.) but I've never designed this kind of 1920's flapper look before and I'm just having a blast. She'll be in JCS's hard bound Halloween book later this year, not their Halloween ornaments magazine edition. I'm working on something else for that...Code word, "Steampunk". Oh, man, I'm having way too much fun.

Hope everyone is stitching up a storm this week.